Didier Cuche, who announced he will retire at the end of the season, posted the fastest time in training for the Hahnenkamm race in Kitzbühel tomorrow with a time of 1 minute, 58.10 seconds.
The 37 year old Swiss racer has won 4 of the past 5 World Cup Downhill titles.
"I'm in top form and I can still aspire to win races. It's in this condition that I wish to retire from the World Cup," he said.
The 72nd Hahnenkamm race weekend opens today (Friday 20 Jan) with super-G, followed by the famous downhill on Saturday, seen by many as THE race to win, or at least do will in, in the annual ski world cup calendar; including our own dear Graham Bell who rates his twelfth place in the race above his five Olympic appearances.
The race meeting, which is the biggest sports event of any kind in Austria each year, concludes with the slalom on Sunday, as well as the special Kitzbühel combined.
The latest edition of the Hahnenkamm Races also sees a new record in prize money awarded with the purse totalling € 564,000. € 175,000 is shared among the top 30 racers in both downhill and slalom events whilst € 130,000 will be awarded for the super-G and € 84,000 will be divided up amongst the top three in the classic combined.
The winning athlete in both downhill and slalom will receive € 70,000. Super-G and combined winners can look forward to a winner's cheque of € 50,000 each.
For the first time, the Hahnenkamm Races can be seen completely worldwide as for those countries where there is no television coverage, a live broadcast will be available on the internet (in over 200 countries!) for, the FIS says, "a small fee."
Commentary will be in English and the races can also be viewed with a time delay. This means that the races can be followed for the first time in countries such as Thailand, Cuba, Brazil or New Zealand. To view users must simply register on hahnenkamm.com/live-view.html. Direct TV coverage will be broadcast in Austria, Germany, Norway, Sweden, USA, Switzerland, Italy, Finland and Japan.
In addition a newly available App for IPhones and Android mobile phones enables ski fans to keep close tabs on the Hahnenkamm Races with a mobile version of the website for other operating systems such as Windows Phone and Blackberry available on m.hahnenkamm.com.